While I feel terrible for the Indian citizens who have been driven from their homes by the murderous Paki shelling, pls note kindly also that one result of completely evacuating the border villages is that anyone mysteriously appearing there now is presumed a Paki terrorist.

This is denial of shelter as well. Also avoids hostage situations and civilian deaths when the pest-e-shaheed is applied.

Plus, I remember that the BSF told the Pakis bluntly that continuation of firing would result in collateral damage on their side. That was immediately preceding the evacuation of the Ind-side villages. Now there will be a lot of parking lots created on the Paki side. This is what happened in 1998-99 too.

Until this was done, the western papparazzi were reporting that India-side looked shelled and burnt-out, but Paki side had pucca houses right up to the border line. Paki farmers were happily pakistaning in their fields, confidently proclaiming (and I quote CNN, believe it or not)

Indian soldiers do not target civilians

Also, the border villages were full of tall, heavy, fat burkha-clad figures with PA boots sticking out below (again, CNN quote, not Indian propaganda).

Then one day India had enough of it. No more villages on Paki side. Mass hysteria as they all ran inwards. All quiet on the LOC, and Vajpayee started making bus ticket reservations.

History is repeating. I HOPE NaMo doesn't get these

Insaniyat over Insanity

attacks unlike ABV.

I hear that now the firing has stopped. Figures. Still think they should send Gen. Vij and his merry SUVs over on a Friendly Visit to Muzzafarabad. Create a good wide road?

UlanBatori saar, We can be sure that the cretins in the MEA will give exactly that sort of advice...hopefully NaMo ignores that lot and does the right thing. The babu-based think tanks in India have people who run around saying "it is easy to start a war with pakistan, but a lot harder to wage peace"...such superior anal-e-sys of pakistan is the norm for delhi based babucracy.

Gagan wrote:If there is a border skirmish, Pakistan should pay for it by loss of land in POK.

We can do it from South of J& K so that there is a land connection of that area with Punjab. Then we can create Indiian settlements in Uttara Punjab. EVentually t will divide J & K from PoK atleast in the South Kashmir side. OK.. enough day dreaming for now

it was on the night of 19 Jan 1990 that the Kashmiri pandit population of Kashmir was hounded out. They fled to Jammu on whatever transport they could muster. The exodus took place in the loading areas of trucks, scooters whatever. the familes, old men children, women whatever fled towards Jammu with what they could take. All the arms and or organs of The Government of J&K and India from the President downwards and the Governor onwards did not to my memory do anything that could inspire confidence other than the usual yowls of solidarity in the form of handouts in Jammu. This article delves into those days. and also the mechanism by which the persons of other faiths such as the Yazidis would have been driven out of the areas they have lived in since times immemorial

19 January The night that changed everything

It was the darkest of all the nights. It was the coldest of all the nights. It was the longest of all the nights. It was the night of January 19, 1990. It was the night of exile. It was the night of exodus. It was the night of fear and horror. It was the night of suspicion. It was the night of uncertainty. It was the night of death and despair. It was the darkest night ever, when thousands of frightened and fear stricken people, fearing for their lives and honour being hounded, were huddled together in the small space within the iconic Tourist Reception Centre of Srinagar, wondering if this night will ever end and if the morning will ever come and if they will ever be alive to see the next dawn, that was just hours away, yet seemed ages afar. And, if they will ever be there again as it felt like their last night. It is exactly 25 years now, since the Kashmiri Pandits were exiled out of Kashmir en masse. 25 years may not be a long time in the history of nations and large communities, but it is certainly not a short period either for a generation that has seen so much transformation for good and for worse. Thankfully the young generation of Kashmiri Pandits which is in its twenties and thirties now has not experienced the trauma and tragedy of the exile as it happened. But those in their forties onwards can well recall that horrific horror that howled and bellowed out of the loudspeakers from every mosque across the valley on the night of January 19. It was worse in Srinagar. While the rest of the world learnt about the jihad much later, Pandits in Kashmir felt it long before when to their utter shock and horror that night the friends turned foes within no time, just over a call from the mosque. Many will recall that midnight horror when the war-cry started being broadcast from the mosques. ‘Naalai-Takbeer Allah-u-Akbar’ was reverberating everywhere in the air. Nobody had any problem with this call, but when it was followed with scary records played from the loud speakers, “aye mard-e-mujhaid jaag zarra, abb waqt-e-shahaddat hai aaya”… ”ya shahadat pao gay, ya gaazi tum kehlao gay”. Even that much was tolerable as long as the call was only to the Muslims to join jihad, the holy war. Then came the final warning, “aye kafiro aye jaabiro, Kashmir hamara chhod do…” Besides, a phrase, “ralliv, czhaliv ya galliv” was specifically coined for the purpose and it was generously used, at times in jest only, but with a clear message. It means, “convert, flee or die”. Interestingly the same message is delivered today in Syria and Iraq also by the Islamic State militants to the minorities. It was followed up with the stickers of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front and Jammu and Kashmir Students Liberation Front pasted on the houses and gates of the Pandits, “Indian dogs go back”. And this was not a hollow threat. It was executed with precision and carried out with systematic and selective killings of the Kashmiri Pandits, young and old alike. The idea and purpose was quite specific; to create fear and scare among them. “Kill one and scare the rest to flee” and the idea worked very well. Till January 19, 1990 the threats were just subtle. Long time friends and the neighbours for generations would regularly assure the Pandits of “safety and security”. These were actually genuine and well meaning assurances and the Pandits also felt assured. But, the night of January 19 changed everything. The long time friends and the neighbours for generations turned hostile or at best, indifferent, expressing their “helplessness” that they can no longer protect the Pandits. They would say, they could stand guarantee against the local and known militants, but they could not against the outsiders and strangers. The ploy was clear. The militants from one area will threaten and kill the Pandits in a different area to avoid identification. With friends and neighbours turning indifferent and hostile, with selective but regular killings in front of their eyes, with threatening posters and stickers pasted on their houses, with the war cry bellowing out of the mosques with not too subtle a message to leave, the horror could not have been the worse. People came out midnight rushing towards the Tourist Reception Centre in the dark of the night. Fathers and brothers escorted their young daughters and sisters out to ensure their safety as women end up to be the soft targets. Besides, there were specific calls saying Pandits should leave and leave behind their women folk. The decency of these columns does not allow narrating the particular phrase coined for this purpose in Kashmiri. The war mongering for jihad started duly after dinner on the night of January 19, apparently done with a design as the fear gets more frightening during the dark hours. And it was not the time of mobile phones and WhatsApp messaging. Even landline phones were very few, if at all these worked. Within no time the streets and roads of Srinagar city were filled with frightened people seeking to flee for their life and honour. Many managed the taxis to flee for safety at that hour only. But everybody was not lucky to manage the transport; either because they could not afford it or it was not available at that hour of the night. Srinagar’s iconic Tourist Reception Centre was inundated with thousands and thousands of people shivering in the cold and waiting for the morning. The buses and taxis would start from there for Jammu and other parts of the country. It was the period of frequent ‘hartals’. Nobody was sure whether any transport will be available and still everybody waited for the morning which was feeling so distant in despair. There was only one assurance that of togetherness as everybody felt the strength being with the other and it is probably the strength of togetherness that has helped them to survive the 25 years of exile.

The USA diplomat even directly pushed paki line and acted as a courier of Pakistan! It was during the same time that USA directly protected Pakistan from being declared a state sponsor of terror even in the face of direct evidence provided for 1993 Mumbai blasts -in form of detonators.

If you had any doubts of Digvijaya Singh being a lying, anti-national, sack of sh!t, now you can eliminate any doubt. This rat-turd is openly stating the Jagmohan caused the exodus of KPs from J&K in the 90s. Is this ahole working for the Pakis...certainly seems that way.

For example, on the 25th anniversary of the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits, Congress leader Digvijay Singh tweeted: “Kashmiri Pandits were unnecessarily forced to leave the Valley by Jagmohan. Hindus and Muslims lived together for Centuries in Kashmir.” He will find many buyers in the Valley where Kashmiri Muslim separatists and their supporters have been for the last 25 years regurgitating this lie to whitewash the communal stain of the ‘azadi’ movement. He will also find several cheerleaders outside Kashmir because they like the conspiracy theory for one or other despicable political or personal reason. I will dwell on those reasons in a separate piece.

^ Vamsee ji, before you know it, someone would come up with chanakyan niti justifying why it is good to spend Indian money on these traitors. Remember it is the same IA which few months back was saving sorry a$$es of these mofos during floods.

Yep, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between that locality and Azamgarh in UP. If this is the support that the jihadis are getting, are we really winning, or are we just kicking the can farther down the road? Disgusting.

I watched the funeral of Col. Rai and the heart-wrenching scenes of his daughter, father, wife. . . really, I broke down and I see the terrorists being praised in Kashmir. How ungrateful can these people get? These terrorist supporters must be driven out of India, the most charitable thing to do. They deserve to go to Pakistan.

To Kashmiris the militants are freedom fighters it is as plain and simple , where we have failed collectively as a nation is to wait endlessly for decades for these people to come to terms with the fact that J&K is a part of India. Decades of chootiy@ raj under the INC has not helped either, if likes of hurriyat and their lesser extreme avatars like PDP are given a legitimacy in India then many more Col Rais will have to sacrifice their lives in the coming future , we might feel sorry for 5 minutes about such things but GOI knows eventually everyone moves on and forgets these things so unless someone up there really cares things are not going to change.

Question to be asked is - What is the long term plan GoI has to tackle Kashmir problem except for hoping and praying that Jehadis turn away to Iraq and Syria or declare jehad on each other.For every Jehadi, we throw more bodies of security forces and are fighting till last active service man.

If for MMS, he would have practically handed over J&K to terrorists and Pakis while BJP is making all out effort in joining hands with terror sympathizer PDP to form a govt.Till now GoI has done nothing to show that they have plans for J&K and that other than using Army, they can keep the KM dominated areas with India.

Why is terrorist B'turd Geelani and that murderer of AirForce officers Yasin Malik still alive and enjoying Biryani on tax paid by likes of Col. Rai is beyond my Chanikian understanding.oh BTW someone should ask Dr. Jitendra Singh as what happened to land for Amarnath Yatra in Kashmir now that there is Central govt rule and he is in the PMO himself.

These terrorists need to be disposed off silently and not made a public spectacle by returning them to the pro-paki kashmiri muslim losers -- it is definitely demoralizing if you are part of the armed forces.

I hear you. But as I deeply introspect about this, I am not sure there are any easy answers. We have debated endlessly on revoking 370, and a host of issues. Its a slow and painful process. But on BJP PDG govt formation, I think it is in India's interests. At least PDP will not have full say and be allowed to secede from India in slow motion. Thats the best we can get at the moment.

Simple answer of all this is cutting Islam and associated political correctness down to size. We Indians have this bamboo of behaving like good boys, no matter what the provocation. Screw PCness, be ruthless and the feral pigs will fall in line. Those who don't, can be culled.

It takes a fearsome Kali who can slay demons to enable Lakshmi Sarswati to play their sitar.As of now, we are not behaving like Kali and fighting war of attrition. Screw this.

I hear you. But as I deeply introspect about this, I am not sure there are any easy answers. We have debated endlessly on revoking 370, and a host of issues. Its a slow and painful process. But on BJP PDG govt formation, I think it is in India's interests. At least PDP will not have full say and be allowed to secede from India in slow motion. Thats the best we can get at the moment.

Allowed to secede by who? GOI? Indian parliament? That can not happen and you know that.

I hear you. But as I deeply introspect about this, I am not sure there are any easy answers. We have debated endlessly on revoking 370, and a host of issues. Its a slow and painful process. But on BJP PDG govt formation, I think it is in India's interests. At least PDP will not have full say and be allowed to secede from India in slow motion. Thats the best we can get at the moment.

we need to cut the mollycoddling. let the prices of goods be adjusted for true costs and not some artificial prices, highly subsidized and paid for by the Indian taxpayer. let them feel the living conditions like in POK. That should learn them.

I wonder what inflation is actually seen by these state subject turds in the valley.

If everyone would follow rules, why did the Kashmiri Pandits have to be ethnically cleansed? When the Indian subcontinent was partitioned, only secular Muslims were to stay back. Rest went to Pakistan, with considerable loss of people and land. We should extend the same facility to all those who do not want to understand it and lose trust of Kashmiri Pandits with their direct paki or even terrorism sympathies. After all, it is claimed that it is the terrorists from pakis who drove out Kashmiri Pandits.

I want to understand how art-370 has stopped assimilation of denizens of Kashmir into India whereas same article didnot stop Jammu and Ladhakh folks from feeling Indian-ness unless the idea is to flood Kashmir valley with people from other overcrowded states and Art-370 stops this action. This thought basically accepts that GoI has no plan and has given up on KM's.

How will removal of Art-370 help KM assimilation into Indic thought and giving up on terrorism unless again the solution is to flood the valley with people form rest of India and create safe zones.What is that GoI seeks in Kashmir solution and is not able to find ?

PS: Can a Indian state impose reverse Art-370 on denizens of J&K to claim parity and reciprocity. This should be a fair law.

w Delhi, Feb 5 (PTI) BJP president Amit Shah today said that his party and PDP are in an “advanced stage” of finalising Common Minimum Programme ahead of forming a coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir and the issue of Chief Ministership will be discussed only after that.“The proceess for making a Common Minimum Programme is on. It has reached a very advanced stage but yet not completed. It is only after the finalisation of the CMP that issues like who will be the Chief Minister and from which party, will be discussed. All this will be discussed only then,” Shah told CNN-IBN.He said that right now what should be understood is that the two parties have come together to help each other in the Rajya Sabha elections from the state.Shah was replying to a question on whether their coming together for the Rajya Sabha polls is a clear indication of the two parties having resolved issues for forming the next government in the state including that of Chief Ministership.The state has come under Governor’s rule following a highly-fractured mandate in Assembly elections held there in December last year.In the 87-member Legislative Assembly, PDP is the single-largest party with 28 members, closely followed by BJP with 25, National Conference (15), Congress (12) and others seven.There have been indications that the Government formation in J and K will get a fillip after the Delhi assembly elections are over on February 7.Both the parties have already joined hands for the four vacant seats of Rajya Sabha for which elections are being held. BJP and PDP have decided to contest on two seats each.

Inclusion of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) would stand detrimental to peace in the occupied valley and would further destabilise the region that may re-trigger militancy, a top Kashmiri leader from Indian Held Kashmir (IHK) has warned.

“It will have fatal repercussions,” said All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq in an exclusive telephonic conversation with Daily Times from Srinagar on Kashmir Solidarity Day observed on Thursday. He was house-arrested at his residence in Srinagar Wednesday night ahead of Kashmir Solidarity Day.

“I can see 1987-like situation when militancy rose to its peak after the state elections in J&K. The voters’ turnout was highest then but it meant nothing because these polls never reflected the will of Kashmiris,” said Mirwaiz Farooq. He added that it might happen again if the BJP came into power here. “The people of Kashmir hold serious reservations about the sham polls process in J&K and now the participation of BJP in the so-called coalition government would only add fuel to fire,” he said referring to the IHKJ state polls where People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and BJP are expected to form a coalition government.

Right from the day one, Farooq said, the representatives of mainstream Kashmiri parties rejected the J&K state polls. “And now our reservations are proving true. The BJP is coming into power to add to the woes of Kashmiris, especially the Muslims living across the occupied valley,” he said.

The PDP and BJP that led IHK state polls charts of 87-member Legislative Assembly by securing 28 and 25 votes respectively, are working on a Common Minimum Programme (CMP) to form the coalition government.

“Not that we are against the polls or democratic process. We support democracy but staged, manipulated and engineered polls here can never be a substitute to Kashmiris’ right to self-determination,” Umar Farooq said.

When asked to comment on the increase in BJP’s vote bank in IHK in the wake of the highest number of 25 seats, the Hindu nationalist party ever secured in IHK state polls, Farooq, also the chief cleric of IHK, said, “This is because Kashmiri nationalist and separatist parties boycotted these sham polls which gave BJP an opportunity to cash in on the situation. What legitimacy do these so-called polls in J&K hold in the absence of real representatives of Kashmiris? The voters’ turnout in J&K state polls was highest in 1987 but there was violence across the valley immediately after the polls. ”

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq saw blood of “thousands of innocent Indian Muslims” on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s hands, while saying the IHK would be pushed to chaos, violence and instability should BJP came into power. “Remember what he (Modi) did to Muslims in Gujarat. He has a terrorist mind, and was banned to fly to the United States till he became the PM. His party coming into power here would spill more blood. It adds insult to the injuries of the Muslims,” Farooq referred to the killings of Muslims in Gujarat massacre in 2002 with the allegedly direct involvement of Narendra Modi, the then chief minister.

SSridhar wrote:? The voters’ turnout in J[b]&K state polls was highest in 1987 but there was violence across the valley immediately after the polls.[/b] ”Mirwaiz Umar Farooq saw blood of “thousands of innocent Indian Muslims” on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s hands, while saying the IHK would be pushed to chaos, violence and instability should BJP came into power.

This cartoonista do not understand the difference between 87 and 2015. Hope he realizes that if he starts the similar shenanigans now, Jannat will stop receding away but start creeping close to the evil violence doers. OTOH, lets hope he starts this so we can finish the root cause by uprooting it from ground and throwing it in Jehlum.

separatist leader has asked Muslims in Jammu and Kashmir to marry more than once and have as many children as possible to preserve the Muslim-majority character of the State.

“We appeal to well-to-do Muslims to marry more than once and have as many children as possible. The Koranic tenet of justice between wives is only in providing equal provision and not inclination of the heart,” Mohammad Qasim, who is serving life term for murder, said in a statement emailed by his party Muslim-Deenimahaz, on Saturday.

Qasim, husband of Dukhtaran-e-Millat chief Asiya Andrabi, said, “The settlement of refugees in J&K is a ploy to change the Muslim-majority status of the State.”

It now looks as if the PDP tells BJP it wants Kashmiri militants to return via Nepal. the govt of india stand appears to be that the terrorists who wish to return can do so through check point in J&K, Attari, Punjab and delhi airport. The Pakistan govt to cover up its culpability wants the persons to return via Nepal. The PDP also wants the same. Should be interesting to see what the BJP does about this demand in order to form the govt in J&K

Home Ministry to take call•The Home Ministry has convened a meeting to decide as to what should be done with the returnees who come from the Nepal route•81 Kashmiri militants have so far returned to the Valley and more than 3,000 such militants are living across the border. The PDP wants all of them to return•The Indian authorities only recognise Wagah-Attari border (Punjab), IGI Airport (New Delhi), Salamabad and Chakan-Da Bagh cross-LoC routes (J-K) for return of militantsThe PDP had thrown something more than the known contentious issues in the ring while negotiating with the BJP over government formation — It wanted legitimisation of the Nepal route for the return of militants from Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoK) under the rehabilitation policy.The Indian authorities do not recognise Nepal as the legitimised route for the return of militants. The four routes selected for such returnees are: Wagah-Attari border (Punjab), Indira Gandhi International Airport (New Delhi), Salamabad and Chakan-Da Bagh cross-LoC routes (Jammu and Kashmir). The policy had suffered a major roadblock since Pakistan never wanted the militants to return to Jammu and Kashmir via these identified routes for that would have established its complicity and role it had played in training and arming militants from Kashmir who travelled to Pakistan in 1990s. As per official estimates, there are 3,000 such militants across the border. The proposal was first mooted in May 2006 at the conclusion of the second Round Table Conference on Kashmir in Srinagar and the then Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, had advanced it. The policy was taken up officially in 2009-2010 during the Omar Abdullah government in the state. The state government had taken it up with the MHA and they had agreed to it. During its negotiations with the BJP on government formation, the PDP upped the ante on the route for returnees. The Home Ministry has now convened a meeting to decide as to what should be done with the returnees who come from the Nepal route with their wives and children. Such returnees for all practical purposes are not the citizens of India and cannot be called state subjects. Moreover, their coming from the Nepal route is in violation of the foreign rules. Director General of Police K Rajendra said the Home Ministry might want to have its own view on the vexed issue. The state Home Ministry has expressed concerns about some mischievous elements trying to rebrand themselves as militants and activate sleeper cells. This is a ticklish situation for the state and has wider ramifications on national security.

Wonder why PDP is given so much elbow room, while it points out section 370 etc. Such sections are not made in vacuum and PDP also have to follow rules, like protecting minorities, just like following other rules. Demanding something that is extra constitutional seems to be part of vote bank politics in Kashmir clearly.

Looks like bureaucratic delays and obstinacy have given PDP a stick to wave.

If TSP prevents the refugees to return from designated checkpoints (only two of which are in J&K LOC) they will find other points e.g. Nepal. I don't get the logic of those returning via Nepal are not citizens. Neither were those coming from the four check -points!The second point is yes, ISI will infiltrate terrorists and proper screening and checks & balances with post processing is needed.

In the news of afghan refugees returning from Pakistan, some of them are going back from Kashmir area controlled by Pak. This duplicity of pakistan need to be exposed of how they changed demographics of Kashmir area by afghan refugees and other pakistan nationals while making huge noises when the native kashmir hindus are being rehabilitated back to kashmir.

“Pakistan, Hurriyat and militants allowed conducive atmosphere for assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir,” Sayeed said at a press conference that was held to unveil the coalition agenda — the Common Minimum Programme (CMP). “We want to make the alliance a turning point in history to win the hearts and minds of all people of the state,” he said. "Army will be made accountable for its actions," Sayeed added when asked about AFSPA.

The army related comments is quite neutral in my view but the one about Pukis and hurried rats is interesting. It was certainly not cooperation with these two sets of jokers that we saw the successful completion of the process.